Donald Trump and the Message of the Cross

First off, I don’t really intend this to be political post, it’s just that The Donald popped up in this article, “I have a great relationship with God” and summarized the entire nature of the problem so perfectly.

He says he has a great relationship with God and proceeds to explain,“I live a very different life than probably a lot of people would think. I’m talking about over the last number of years, I’m leading a very good life. I try to lead a good life and I have.”

I call that cultural Christianity. Well actually in Trump’s case, I call that slick and masterful marketing. I can laugh about how politics are all about making bovine poo taste good, but the underlying truth and reality of the prevalence of cultural Christianity distresses me and keeps me awake at night.

What is totally missing in Trump’s declaration is the message of the cross. What is missing in so many people’s concept of faith is the message of the cross. Heck, what is missing in many fancy TV preacher’s version of faith.….is the message of the cross.

The message of the cross is everything. It is the basic, fundamental, first step from which proceeds All Things. It is the cornerstone, the foundation, the very heart of Christianity. The cross isThe Gospel. What is The Gospel? “A gospel is an account describing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Without Jesus Christ and the work He did on the cross, there is no Christ in our Christ-ianity. We are just an -anity or perhaps -ians.

The cross is everything. The cross is what unites us. That is where our spiritual journey begins. The cross is the whole story. To not begin repentant, convicted, aware of sin, in need of redemption, is to not even be aware of why one might need a Savior in the first place. Faith without a Savior is not faith at all. It is more like just free falling through the universe.

I must admit I’m at a loss for words today because I’m rather surprised to look about and realize there are a whole lot of people who seem to not be aware of the message of the cross. I don’t mean to sound snarky here, but the very symbol of our faith is…..the cross! It’s almost like it was put there just to remind us.

The cross is actually not a beautiful piece of jewelry or an elegant bit of stained glass, it was an instrument of torture and execution. It was a bloody, nasty, horrific symbol of misery and death. The very fact that the cross existed should give people some idea as to the sinful nature of man. The vast majority of our history has involved coming up with new and inventive ways to torture and kill one another.

The Great Commission, what we are called to do, can be found in Mark 16:15 and says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.“ What is the gospel? “an account describing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” We could go to Matthew 28:19 and find the same concept, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost..” What are we to teach? the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why are we to teach it? Because it is good news, because Jesus Christ has provided us a way to have victory over sin, to become the people He created us to be, to be reconciled with our Creator.

Back to The Donald however, it’s a news article so it should be taken with a grain of salt. But this article, combined with other words Trump has spoken about being a Christian, just not one who feels the need for repentance or who believes we need to be forgiven for our “alleged” sins, pretty much sums up the nature of the issue. I have heard those same words repeated either in word and deed all over the place.

It really doesn’t matter if you are left or right or liberal or conservative, those who seem to have missed the entire message of the cross become very obvious to me. There are some who are very harsh and judgmental, who have no mercy for others, likely because they have never received mercy themselves. Still others are so open minded and tolerant their brains have done fallen out, and they are often so shame based, they have obviously never met redemption either.

Everybody serves a purpose in God’s kingdom. There are all kinds of different personalities and skill sets. Faith is also a process, everybody must walk their own path, so what challenges one may face, may not be a challenge for another. God works on everybody in different ways, one person’s strengths are another’s weaknesses. What unifies us all however, is the Who, What, and Why of what happened on the cross. Without that recognition of who He is and who we are in Him, we just have this disjointed, 3 legged stool of chaos.

Donald does what so many of us do, “it would benefit me to align myself with the cultural narrative of Christianity so as appeal to the largest number of people.” That however is politics, not faith. He goes on to declare he’s good with God and lives a good life. He’s a multi millionaire! How challenging can it be to live the good life? Arrgg…Trump may well be a good person, but again, that misses the entire message of the cross. We cannot earn our own Salvation by living a good life, by being a good person.

Those words, “I have a great relationship with God,” are true of me too. God has been very good to me and I seek His favor, I seek to be pleasing to Him. However, I am incapable of being Holy, perfect, and if I must give an account of all the missed opportunities, unintended consequences, and deliberate acts of defiance, I must point towards Jesus Christ. Who am I? I am the love and mercy He poured out, I am sheltered in the sacrifice He made. As one wise woman recently quipped, “I am hiding within His coat tails, hoping to be smuggled through the door.”

Political candidates are one thing, I cannot help anyone there, nor do I intend to criticize anyone who is busy enjoying the antics of The Donald, I am just saying there is an important lesson lurking in here about faith, one that often seems to be slipping away in the world today.

Without the message of the cross, one’s faith either has no teeth or it is nothing but teeth, but either way, it has no substance and just floats through ones fingers like chaffs of wheat….

It’s a strange thing how we refer to ourselves and others as “good”; good compared to whom?
When Jesus was asked: “Good Master, what must I do to have eternal life”… His first response… “Why call Me good? NO ONE is good EXCEPT God alone.
Why do we love this “relative” life.

Good post, I almost didn’t read because of the title 😛
Indeed, without the message of the cross, we have nothing… and sadly this ‘too good to be true gospel’ is viewed as foolishness by those who -perhaps- needs it the most.

I love your point, Ancients. Why do we call ourselves good, indeed? What is the standard there, how are we measuring ourselves? Good compared to Who? How do we even know what “good” is?

Than there is the issue of time, too. Time always creates infinite logistical problems. Trump himself speaks of living a good life, “for the past few years.” That made me laugh because I too am good… after I’ve had my coffee and woken up. So does the fact that I am good now, cancel out the fact that I wasn’t so charitable a few hours ago? 😉

Thank God Jesus answered that question as He did and that we have been blessed with His word,”Why call Me good? NO ONE is good EXCEPT God alone.”

I thought that “the message of the cross” WRT Trump was along the lines of “being angry makes you popular.” Now Sanders seems to have joined the party as well, and don’t even get me started with Cruz.

Kidding aside, you’re absolutely right, IB. If we all did as Jesus did and surrendered our self-concern in perfect faith, taking seriously our stewardship of the world (including each other), then we wouldn’t need a government, now would we?

I don’t know. Maybe Trump is a reincarnated Herod. All that “First Birther” blather. He couldn’t go back and kill Obama at birth, so Trump tried to go about it with birth certificates instead.

I have to pull back and just admire the political skill there sometimes, Brian. He’s actually doing an excellent job of playing off of people’s need to be angry, to feel powerful. “Women desire him, men want to be him, he’s the most powerful man in the world…”

I’m a terrible romantic but that is just too transparent for me. His dialectic seems to be making out with his rhetoric in the backseat. Of course we are charmed.

Well, you did not offend this fan, IB. I am at the point I would rather offend a thousand and one come to repentance and faith, than make a thousand happy and see them all perish. So, keep on trucking.

I just so appreciate your up front this-is-how-it-is realism about the crux (no need to pardon the pun) of Christianity. The historicity of the cross and rez are why we are here, doing what we do, as imperfect as that may be. I would take slight exception with one quote: “I am hiding within His coat tails, hoping to be smuggled through the door.” On the contrary, I’m thinking Jesus didn’t hang a tortuous cross so I can be smuggled in, but instead we can now “come boldly to the throne of grace” Repentance first, yes, but restoration, fully and completely like the prodigal son. I’m big on the restored dignity and how excited God is to have us with Him, here and now. He ushers us in through the front door, not the back. Again, thanks for a great post (as always.)

Thanks for your comment and for your kind words. I’m all for coming boldly before the throne of grace, as sons and daughters of a most High God. We’ll judge the angels, someday! And of course. God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, so our ability to hide and sneak in under coat tails is likely not possible 😉

I can’t help but feel nearly every word Trump says are things he thinks people want to hear, even if he doesn’t realize it. So if today calling himself a Christian works to shore up voters, well then he’s a Christian today. Tomorrow however is always a different day.

A side note on Trump, when he was asked if he ever asks God for forgiveness he said no because he has no reason to really. Yeah, there’s someone who understands Christianity.

Re. Mr. Trump: I’m not sure hurling insults and bullying people who disagree with you, “being a good man.” He’s good in his own eyes. And ironically, he contradicts the very faith he’s claiming to have since the Bible says there are none righteous, no not one. So he either is good and not a Christian or a Christian and not good, like all the rest of us. 😉 In Christ alone!

Yes Rebecca! That is the problem with individuals like Trump who don’t think that they need forgiveness. They obviously think that “they are good in their own eyes.”

Thinking of oneself as “good” without the need for redemption at the cross of Christ indicates that a person has not seen the need for a broken and contrite heart. I have a post up at my blog about this that contains prose from a Christian friend of mine that speaks very well on this issue! If you have time, I hope you will consider reading it. God bless! ~ Christine

“Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams
In my humble opinion, the corrupted Electronic elections this Nov. will be pivotal in both the course of America, and the acceleration of Bible prophecy.
I prefer not to post anything about me, even obliquely, though I use a pseudonym, the Wild,Wild,Web being what it is. This is why my about page (https://partneringwitheagles.wordpress.com/?page_id=8538&preview=true) has quotes such as the above. This feeble blogger has only Christ’s imputed righteousness; none of his own.

Trump … -huge sigh- for better or worse, needs to be elected. Why? He’s too rich to be bought; the power behind this wealth is important considering the effects George Soros has had behind the scenes. He speaks truth to power, and the corrupt RINOS are fighting him simply because he says what they are afraid to; they are bought and sold. (Boehner is just one of these)
The outsourcing of election results, helped to usurp the votes of military personnel overseas TWICE. We face rampant apostasy not just here but worldwide. Copy either of these old posts into my “search this site” box: One Nation, Abandoning God, Splintered, with NDAA injustice for all… or
The Point of No Return – America at the tipping point
A closing quote – Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.

Thank you for the reblog. My hubby shares some of your views about Trump, so you’re in good company. The best company, really 😉

I can see the appeal and the fact that the man can’t be bought and that he stands up to the usual clowns. Thanks for reminding me about our founding fathers and their keen awareness that people are not just moral all on their own, that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and that at the very least, we need a strong system of checks and balances. I’m really not sure what the future brings for our country, but lots of prayers are going up there!

Reblogged this on partneringwitheagles and commented:
We face rampant apostasy not just here but worldwide. Copy either of these old posts into my “search this site” box: One Nation, Abandoning God, Splintered, with NDAA injustice for all… or
The Point of No Return – America at the tipping point

The message of the cross is everything. It is the basic, fundamental, first step from which proceeds All Things. It is the cornerstone, the foundation, the very heart of Christianity.

This would be that an omnipotent and omniscient God created a race of beings knowing that they would sin in the future, set up an arbitrary ritual with a tribe of Stone Age herdsmen whereas they could sacrifice an innocent animal to die in order to “atone” for their own sin, and then sent a part of Itself to supposedly “die” for a short period of time as a symbolic replacement for that innocent animal, in order to deal with Its own arbitrary rules about sacrifice, when It had created people knowing they would sin, and when said “sacrifice” was ultimately pointless, because It knew said death was only a temporary condition?

Remind me again how, in your narrative tale, God made a greater sacrifice than, say, a kamikaze pilot, who throws away his life knowing that he WON’T be coming back…

I cannot “remind” you of anything because you are too busy denying what lies right in front of you. Also, not to be impolite here, but there is slight possibility that the error is on your end and not God’s.

I cannot “remind” you of anything because you are too busy denying what lies right in front of you.

I don’t see anything before me apart from a book which may or may not be fiction. If you have any proof of any truth to this crucifixion myth apart from that book, please present it. If you think “anything lies before me”, then you should point it out rather than propping up your tired mythology by sneering at those pointing out the Emperor lacks clothes.

I see no more reason to believe Jesus came back from the dead than I do to believe Harry Potter did the same.

Great response! I’ve got my own anti-Christian nemesis at my blog too. They usually only write what they do because they want to annoy. They lack discerning eyes and are not there to learn any wisdom from God through what we share via His Word – the Bible….that’s for sure!

Great non-response to CPaca’s second rant. Sometimes it’s best to just leave their ridiculousness hanging there for all to see.

This is just one of the main reasons why I’m concerned about Trump’s candidacy. He doesn’t appear to believe that he needs forgiveness at the foot of the cross of Christ and therefore, his brand of “Christianity” is a false meme that can’t be trusted! Trump apparently believes that he is “good in his own eyes.”

We have had 7 long years of horrible “change” as a result of a candidate that spewed lofty rhetoric (and MANY lies) before and after being elected. It would be awful to go through that again with another huckster with radical hidden views that would further damage our country!

Your writing is excellent and your blog is wonderful! I now enjoy reading it every day!

The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.